Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I just bought a big ol' lot of what are supposed to be Rickenbacker bass strings -- 100 sets, in fact! Standard RIC gauges (45-55-75-105). I compared them to a set of strings I bought from the boutique, and they look and feel identical except for one thing: the set I have from the boutique has gold colored ball ends (OK, they're not exactly ball-shaped, but you know what I mean), and the bulk set that I just got has gold ends on the E string, but different color ends on the other strings -- red (A), black (D), and green (G). Other than that, they look and feel the same as the ones from the set I know is genuine. Since I bought them in bulk there's not much in the way of packaging aside from labels that proclaim them OEM Rickenbacker strings and note the gauge of each bunch.

Does this ring a bell for anyone? And either way, if anyone needs some strings, I certainly don't need 100 sets, so I'm willing to sell most of them on the cheap to share the good deal.

Sounds like you bought a bulk set of D'Addario strings but I could be wrong mate

D'Addario has those ball ends of that color.

In fact, it's:

B = Purple
E = Brass (Brass... yellow is hard to read on this background)
A = Red
D = Black
G = Green
C = Copper

Hm, well, a giant box of D'Addarios isn't half bad either. Wonder how they got labeled as OEM Rick strings? At least they're the right gauges.

Well, it's a good bet that D'Addario is at least one of the manufacturers that supplies strings to RIC. With that in mind, and sets of the proper gauges, there's a decent chance that these are, indeed RIC spec strings made by D'Addario...

Definitely D'Addarios.

My pic of Paul W's DCM:

johnallg wrote:My pic of Paul W's DCM:

Uhh...Nice pic, John, but what does it have to do with bulk strings?

beatlefreak wrote:

johnallg wrote:My pic of Paul W's DCM:

PICT0059%20(450%20x%20600).jpg

Uhh...Nice pic, John, but what does it have to do with bulk strings?

DCM is a universal distration color.

I thought everyone knew that.

I know I get distracted when I see one.

beatlefreak wrote:

johnallg wrote:My pic of Paul W's DCM:

PICT0059%20(450%20x%20600).jpg

Uhh...Nice pic, John, but what does it have to do with bulk strings?

The guitar behind it has a D'Addario hang tag on it.

I am not sure about bass strings but I have just checked three different gauged sets of D'Addario guitar stings and the color codes are the same for each string number. Example, all three sets use silver for the number one position regardless of guage. Are the bass strings the same? More importantly are OEM strings manufactured in the same way?

ken_j wrote:

beatlefreak wrote:

johnallg wrote:My pic of Paul W's DCM:

PICT0059%20(450%20x%20600).jpg

Uhh...Nice pic, John, but what does it have to do with bulk strings?

The guitar behind it has a D'Addario hang tag on it.

That pic is from '06, and the strings hanging there are 13 gauge D'Addario Chromes, because that was a special guitar we made for Pat DiNizio of The Smithereens. That's the strings he uses, and we made him a 350V63 with hi-gains and had the strings to set it up correctly.

Another mystery solved.

Does anybody remember a few years back when the owners manual said to use a 95-75-55-40 set? I still get conflicting stories about what that was all about. Some say it was the Ric standard for a few years. Others say it was a misprint.

admin wrote:Another mystery solved.

lol jinkies! who gets the scooby snack for that one?